Terms of Use | Ciphertainment

The Short Version (for Players and Parents)

Ciphertainment and the GenX Defenders demo are free to play. There are no accounts and nothing to buy.
Use what you learn to protect yourself and others, never to break into computers, accounts, or networks.
Pick a defender code name that is not your real name, and keep it friendly. We can change or remove any code name.
Don't try to hack, break, or cheat the game or the website.
Parents and guardians: if your child plays, you agree to these Terms for them.

The rest of these Terms explain the details.

Ciphertainment is a brand of TechniRise Consulting Inc., a company based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. In these Terms, "TechniRise," "we," "us," and "our" mean TechniRise Consulting Inc. operating as Ciphertainment.

"Services" means the ciphertainment.com website, the challenges on it, the GenX Defenders game (including its demo for Windows PC and its mobile versions), the leaderboard, and any related content and support we provide.

1. About These Terms

These Terms of Use ("Terms") are an agreement between you and TechniRise. By using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services.

Our Privacy Policy at https://www.ciphertainment.com/legal/privacy explains what information we collect and how we handle it. Please read it together with these Terms.

2. Who Can Use the Services

GenX Defenders is designed for players aged 8 and older, and adults are welcome too. Children younger than 8 should play only with a parent or guardian.

We do not ask players their age, and we do not create player accounts. As our Privacy Policy explains, we treat every player as a child when it comes to their information.

If you are under the age of majority where you live, your parent or legal guardian must read and agree to these Terms for you before you use the Services.

3. For Parents and Guardians

If you allow a child to use the Services, you:

agree to these Terms on the child's behalf;
are responsible for deciding whether the Services are right for the child and for supervising their use as suits their age;
will help the child understand these Terms, especially the rules about code names in Section 6; and
can contact us at any time to ask what we hold about the child's code name or to have it removed from the leaderboard, as described in our Privacy Policy.

The only information GenX Defenders collects from players is the code name they choose and their game results. See our Privacy Policy for details.

4. The Services

Ciphertainment provides interactive games and challenges that teach cybersecurity, privacy, and online safety.

GenX Defenders is an educational cybersecurity action-adventure game. It is currently available as a free demo for Windows PC, downloaded from our website, and for mobile devices through the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The Services are currently free. They do not use accounts, and they do not include purchases, subscriptions, advertising, or chat.

A demo is an early version of the game. It may contain errors, change significantly, or stop working when the full game is released.

5. Educational Purpose

GenX Defenders and our challenges teach general cybersecurity concepts through play. They are not:

professional cybersecurity training or certification;
professional security advice; or
permission to test or access any computer, account, network, or system.

6. Defender Code Names and the Leaderboard

6.1 Code Name Rules

When you start GenX Defenders, you choose a defender code name. Your code name, challenges completed, experience points (XP), and level may be shown publicly on our leaderboard at https://www.ciphertainment.com/community. Players whose scores are high enough are added to the leaderboard automatically.

Your code name must not:

include your real name, or anyone else's;
include an email address, telephone number, home address, school, birth year, social media username, or other personal details;
pretend to be another person, a real organization, or a member of our team;
include swearing, insults, hate, sexual content, violence, or anything else unsuitable for young players; or
use someone else's trademarks or brand names.

6.2 Our Rights Over Code Names and Scores

We may reject, change, or remove any code name, and remove any leaderboard entry, at any time and without notice. We may do this if we think a code name breaks these rules, could identify a player, or is unsuitable for young players, or if a score was achieved by cheating or by interfering with the game.

6.3 Coming Off the Leaderboard

You, or your parent, guardian, or teacher, can ask us to remove a code name from the leaderboard at any time by emailing support@ciphertainment.com with the code name. No real name is needed. Section 4.3 of our Privacy Policy explains how removal works.

7. Acceptable Use

You must not use the Services to:

break any law;
bully, threaten, harass, or harm anyone;
pretend to be another person or organization;
try to get another person's password or private information;
upload or spread malware or any other harmful code;
attack, disrupt, overload, or interfere with the Services or the systems they run on;
find or exploit weaknesses in the Services, except by reporting them as described in Section 17;
get around security measures or access restrictions;
cheat, submit false scores, or manipulate the leaderboard;
collect information about other players; or
encourage anyone else to do any of these things.

8. Ethical Use of Cybersecurity Skills

GenX Defenders simulates cybersecurity activities, such as security incidents, attacks, investigations, and defenses, for learning purposes.

You agree not to use anything you learn through the Services to access any computer, account, network, or system without permission; steal information; spread malware; disrupt services; or do anything else that is unlawful or harmful.

Testing the security of anything outside the Game requires permission from its owner. You are responsible for getting that permission.

9. Child Safety

We have zero tolerance for anything that puts children at risk, including exploitation, grooming, harassment, or abuse. If we become aware of such conduct connected with the Services, we will act to stop it and report it to the appropriate authorities where required or permitted by law.

If you have a child-safety concern, contact us right away at support@ciphertainment.com. If a child is in immediate danger, contact local police first.

10. Intellectual Property and Your License

10.1 Our Content

The Services and everything in them belong to TechniRise or our licensors, and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other laws. This includes the Ciphertainment and GenX Defenders names and logos, characters, artwork, audio, music, software, game design, challenges, and educational content.

"TechniRise," "Ciphertainment," "GenX Defenders," and related logos are trademarks and trade names used by TechniRise Consulting Inc. to identify our Services. You may not use them without our written permission, including in any way that suggests we sponsor, endorse, or are connected with you or your product.

10.2 Your License

We give you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to download, install, and use the Services on devices you own or control, for personal, non-commercial learning. Teachers, schools, and other organizations wanting to use the Services with groups should contact us first.

You may not:

copy, sell, rent, lend, or redistribute the Services or the game files;
modify the game or create works based on it;
reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the software, except where the law allows this despite this restriction;
remove copyright or trademark notices; or
use the Services to build a competing product.

11. Feedback

If you send us ideas, suggestions, or feedback, we may use them to improve the Services without paying you or crediting you. You keep ownership of anything you created independently.

12. Third-Party Services and Links

The Services rely on, or link to, services run by other companies, such as the app stores, our hosting provider, and our social media pages. Those services have their own terms and privacy policies, and we are not responsible for them.

13. App Store Terms

13.1 Apple

If you downloaded GenX Defenders from Apple's App Store, the following also applies:

These Terms are between you and TechniRise only, not Apple. TechniRise, not Apple, is solely responsible for the app and its content.
Your license to use the app is limited to Apple-branded products that you own or control, as allowed by the Usage Rules in Apple's Media Services Terms and Conditions. The app may also be used by other accounts linked to you through Family Sharing or volume purchasing.
Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app.
If the app fails to meet any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price, if any. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation for the app. Any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs, or expenses caused by a failure to meet a warranty are TechniRise's responsibility, to the extent they are not disclaimed in these Terms.
TechniRise, not Apple, is responsible for any claims by you or anyone else relating to the app, including product liability claims, claims that the app fails to meet legal or regulatory requirements, and claims under consumer protection, privacy, or similar laws.
If anyone claims that the app or your use of it infringes their intellectual property rights, TechniRise, not Apple, is solely responsible for investigating, defending, settling, and resolving that claim.
You confirm that you are not located in a country subject to a U.S. Government embargo or designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country, and that you are not on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
Questions, complaints, or claims about the app should be sent to TechniRise using the contact details in Section 25.
You must follow any applicable third-party terms when using the app.
Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Once you accept these Terms, Apple has the right to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

13.2 Google Play

If you downloaded GenX Defenders from Google Play, your use of the app is also subject to the Google Play Terms of Service. These Terms are between you and TechniRise only, and Google is not responsible for the app.

14. Free Services and Future Paid Features

The Services are currently free. If we introduce paid features in the future, we will update these Terms and clearly show the price and purchase terms before anyone buys anything. Any purchases in the mobile app will be handled by Apple or Google, with parental controls available through their family settings.

15. Availability, Changes, and Updates

We work to keep the Services available and working well, but we cannot promise they will always be available, error-free, or compatible with every device. They may be unavailable at times for maintenance, updates, technical problems, or reasons outside our control.

We may add, change, or remove features, or stop offering any part of the Services. You may need to install updates to keep using GenX Defenders. Leaderboard entries and game progress may be reset when we release a new version.

16. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and protect information. In short: the only information GenX Defenders collects from players is their code name and game results. We do not create player accounts, show ads, or sell anyone's information.

The Privacy Policy is at https://www.ciphertainment.com/legal/privacy.

17. Security and Reporting Problems

If you find a security weakness in the Services, please report it to support@ciphertainment.com and do not use or share it. Please do not test the Services' security without our written permission.

Please also tell us about any inappropriate code name, child-safety concern, or breach of these Terms. We will look into reports and act where appropriate.

18. Suspension and Removal

We may block access to the Services, remove code names or leaderboard entries, or take other reasonable steps if we believe someone has broken these Terms or the law, or put the Services, players, or others at risk. Where it is appropriate and safe, we will explain why.

19. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Services are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind. We do not promise that the Services will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that information in them is always complete or current.

The cybersecurity information in the Services is educational and is not professional advice.

Nothing in these Terms removes any warranty, guarantee, or right that you have under consumer protection laws and that cannot legally be excluded.

20. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, TechniRise and its directors, officers, employees, contractors, and service providers are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, game progress, profits, or goodwill, arising from your use of the Services.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the Services is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for the Services in the 12 months before the claim, or CAD $50.

These limits do not apply where the law does not allow them, including to liability for fraud, gross negligence, or intentional misconduct, or to rights that consumer protection laws say cannot be limited.

21. Indemnification

If you are an adult and you use the Services in breach of these Terms or the law, you agree to cover the reasonable costs, including legal fees, of any claim brought against TechniRise because of that misuse. This does not apply to claims caused by our own wrongdoing, and it does not apply to children.

22. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms when the Services, the law, or our business changes. We will post the updated Terms on this page and change the "Last Updated" date. For material changes, we will give reasonable notice, such as a notice on our website or in the game, before they take effect.

If you keep using the Services after the updated Terms take effect, you accept them, to the extent the law allows. Where the law requires consent to a change, we will ask for it.

23. Governing Law and Disputes

If you have a concern, please contact us first. Most problems can be sorted out quickly and informally.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Saskatchewan and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be heard by the courts of Saskatchewan.

If you are a consumer, nothing in this section takes away the protection of the consumer protection laws where you live, or any right you have under those laws to bring a claim in your local courts. This includes consumers in Quebec.

24. General

Severability. If any part of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, it will be changed only as much as needed to make it enforceable, and the rest of these Terms will continue to apply.

Entire agreement. These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and TechniRise about the Services.

No waiver. If we do not enforce part of these Terms right away, we can still enforce it later.

Assignment. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms. We may transfer ours as part of a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets.

Events outside our control. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control, such as natural disasters, power or internet outages, cyberattacks, or failures of third-party services.

25. Contact Us

For questions about these Terms, privacy, security, or child safety:

TechniRise Consulting Inc. (operating as Ciphertainment)

Mailing address: PO Box 32098, Saskatoon RPO Erindale, SK S7S 1N8, Canada

Email: support@ciphertainment.com

Phone: +1 (888) 462-4815

Website: https://www.ciphertainment.com